Oregon Recycling Laws

A History

Background

A perceived shortage of landfill space, in part, led to passage of
Oregon’s first Opportunity to Recycle Act in 1983. This act also
established solid waste management policies that recognized the
environmental benefits of waste prevention, reuse and recycling. It
stated that in order to conserve energy and natural resources, solid
waste management should follow a hierarchy:

Reduce the amount of waste generated

Reuse materials for their original intended use

Recycle what can’t be reused

Compost what can’t be reused or recycled

Recover energy from what cannot be reused,
recycled or composted

Dispose of residual materials safely.

The act also required wastesheds (usually counties, except for the
city of Milton-Freewater and Metro) to have recycling depots. It
required cities with populations over 4,000 to provide monthly curbside
recycling collection service to all garbage service customers.

How the laws evolved

The 1983 Opportunity to Recycle Act led to many new curbside
residential recycling programs and the establishment of recycling
depots. However, Oregon policy makers recognized that there were still
opportunities to increase recovery of recyclable materials going to
landfills. The 1991 Oregon Recycling Act (Senate Bill 66) strengthened
and broadened recycling requirements and, for the first time, added
activities to develop markets for recycled materials. The 1991 act:

Set a statewide recovery goal of 50 percent by 2000 and interim
recovery goals for individual wastesheds by 1995

Required DEQ to conduct a waste composition study every other
year to determine what materials are being disposed of, and inform
local government recycling program planning

Required DEQ to develop a solid waste management plan

Required and provided funding to develop a school curriculum on
recycling and waste reduction;

Funded programs through tipping fees at landfills, including
grants to local governments.

Expanding resource recovery

In 1997 a coalition of recycling and solid waste management experts
developed a strategy to move Oregon’s resource recovery efforts beyond
recycling. One outcome of this effort was a program offering local
governments a two percent recovery rate credit for establishing and
maintaining programs in waste prevention, reuse and backyard composting.
DEQ established guidelines and evaluation criteria for wastesheds that
allowed them to earn up to six percent total credits toward their
recovery goals for qualifying programs.

Recovery rate challenges

Solid waste generation (the total amount of materials counted as
“waste,” whether recycled, composted or disposed) grew each year through
the 1990s, while the amount of materials recovered also grew steadily.
However, by the year 2000, Oregon had not met its ambitious recovery
goal of 50 percent.

In response, House Bill 3744 (2001) set a statewide recovery goal of
45 percent for 2005 and 50 percent for 2009. In order to help meet the
statewide recovery goals, all the wastesheds set new voluntary recovery
goals for 2005 and 2009 and submitted plans to DEQ for how they planned
to meet their new goals. These wasteshed plans were to be updated by
Dec. 31, 2006 and Dec. 31, 2010. In the Portland area, Metro’s waste
reduction plan met this requirement. If a wasteshed did not achieve its
2005 or 2009 waste recovery goal, HB 3744 required the wasteshed to
conduct a technical review of existing policies or programs and
determine revisions to be implemented to meet the recovery goal.

By 2005, there would be no annual increase in per capita
municipal solid waste generation;

By 2009, there would be no annual increase in total municipal
solid waste generation.

HB 3744 also added three new ways a wasteshed could qualify for a two
percent credit toward its recovery rate for waste prevention programs.
It allowed wastesheds to apply for more than two percent credit for
residential composting programs if they can document that more than two
percent of the waste generated is being diverted by the programs.

Current recycling requirements for local governments

To encourage recycling participation and increase the amount of
material recovered from the waste stream, the 1991 Oregon Legislature
enacted a menu of recycling program elements or options in Senate Bill
66 (numbers 1 through 8). The 1997 Oregon Legislature made changes to
some of these program options and added one more (number 9). Oregon
Administrative Rules (OAR 340-090-0040) clarify requirements for each of
the following program elements:

Weekly, residential curbside collection of source-separated
recyclable materials, on the same day as garbage service. (If this
program element is not implemented, a minimum of monthly curbside
collection is still required.) Local governments must also give
notice to each person of the opportunity to recycle and encourage
source separation of recyclable materials through an education and
promotion program.

An expanded recycling education and promotion program which
includes, among other things, recycling collection promotion
directed at residential and commercial solid waste service customers
and generators at least four times a year.

Provision of at least one durable recycling container directly
to each residential collection service customer.

Recycling collection service provided to multi-family dwelling
complexes having five or more units.

Residential yard debris collection program for collection and
composting of residential yard debris.

Establishment of an expanded system of recycling depots which
are conveniently located to the population served.

Garbage collection rates established as a waste reduction
incentive, including a mini-can option.

A collection and composting program for commercial and
institutional food waste, non-recyclable paper and other compostable
waste.

All cities with population 4,000 or more must provide a minimum of
three recycling program elements and basic recycling education and
promotion. All cities with population 10,000 or more must provide an
additional one or two recycling program elements (depending on the
activities chosen). DEQ can also approve alternative recycling programs
that comply with administrative rules adopted by the Oregon
Environmental Quality Commission.